Arsenal defender and former Middlesbrough loanee Calum Chambers has insisted that he was left "gutted" by 'Boro's drop back down to the EFL Championship, with the young defender insisting that he "gave absolutely everything in every game" to try and keep them in the English top-flight.

Gave my all to keep them in the Premier League

The 22-year-old was one of the more impressive signings made by former manager Aitor Karanka, and the young Gunner was certainly one of the bright spots alongside Ben Gibson in a generally grim campaign at the Riverside Stadium.

There was some hope for 'Boro after a decent start to the campaign, but their fate was eventually sealed after their 3-0 defeat to the eventual champions Chelsea.

Chambers is expected to return to Arsenal after his stint with England at the European Under-21 Championships, and before their semi-final clash with Germany, he insisted that he was disappointed how his time ended with the club.

“Every game I wanted to play," Chambers told the pre-match press conference. "And I wanted to do the best I could to keep Middlesbrough in the Premier League.

“It was hard. I gave absolutely everything in every game to try to get results and keep them in the Premier League," he conceded. “Unfortunately I couldn’t do that and I was gutted."

"There were times where it was hard but the players and everyone there were so nice," the defender added. “I was frustrated not to keep Boro in the Premier League but playing games was great.”

Signing on for another year

Boro look to be adjusting to life back down in the second-tier with the appointment of their new permanent manager Garry Monk, and they also are looking to add recruits either through the transfer window or through new contracts.

They have began that early on with it been announced that goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos had signed a new one-year deal with the club. The Greek was a key player in the club's promotion charge with 22 clean sheets and broke records with nine consecutive clean sheets.

Despite his efforts in getting Boro promoted, he fell down the pecking order behind Brad Guzan and Víctor Valdés, making just the one cup appearance. However, the 38-year-old will stay on Teesside another season and will begin pre-season training later this week alongside other senior keepers Connor Ripley and Tomas Mejias.